Stuck with you
by AngelAnimefan
Summary: Let's just say a potion goes wrong and HHr shipping! Chapter 15 up! Back from the dead!
1. I'm stuck with you

My first Harry Potter fanfic with a plot! Anyway I'm going to try to write a lot, I have a lot of things planned out so hopefully I'll draw a lot of readers in! Please be kind, R&R! Thanks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Stuck with you  
  
It was the second day back at Hogwart's and Harry was woken quite abruptly by his alarm clock, Hedwig. She was hooting angrily at the window. When Harry opened it she dropped the letter she was carrying and flew off to get some rest. Harry wiped the sleep from his eyes and then opened the letter. It was from Mrs. Weasly.  
  
Dear Harry, I'm sorry we couldn't see you over the summer, I hope you're well. I'm writing this to remind you to be careful during the school year. Voldemort is amassing more and more followers by the day and we just want you to stay safe, please remind Ron too, have a safe year. Love, Mrs. Weasly  
  
Harry frowned slightly, Voldemort, way too early in the morning to hear that name. He put away the letter and went to get ready for a new term at Hogwart's.  
  
~~~  
  
'Great, double potions first thing, kind of hinting at what the rest of the year's going to be like.' Harry thought with despair. They were making potions to ward off poltergeists, it might be slightly useful against Peeves.  
  
'Is something burning?' he wondered. He instinctively looked at Neville's table, yes he was getting it wrong again. He saw Hermione get up to help him.  
  
"Neville, could you pass me the gecko claws?" She asked him, her hand outstretched.  
  
He took the jar and went to pass it to her, but it slid out of his hand and into the dark blue liquid in his cauldron. The alarmed look on Neville's face was all that he noticed before a sea of blue potion spewed across the room. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and they rushed out of the room. He noticed that everyone else did the same.  
  
"That could have been dangerous, good thing we made it out before it got on us, right?" He said. "Yeah, it's amazing that no one got any on them.." she said.  
  
Harry noticed that he was still holding her hand. He reddened slightly and he let go, letting his hand go to his side. Hermione stumbled, she had still been holding his hand. No, wait, she wasn't. He lifted his hand to his face, bringing Hermione's up too.  
  
"We're." he started, surprised. ".stuck!" she finished, panicking.  
  
Harry started panicking too. Stuck?! They couldn't be stuck! Hermione calmed down slightly.  
  
"We must have got some potion on our hands, let's go to see Madame Pomfrey." She said, taking control of the situation.  
  
She started to briskly walk towards the hospital wing, with Harry lumbering in behind of her. He tried to ignore the looks from the wandering teachers, he tried to tell them that they were stuck, but Hermione was walking too fast for him to even start to explain. In no time at all they reached the hospital wing, they noticed that Neville was already there, his left hand on his head, in deep thought. Madame Pomfrey came into the room.  
  
"May I help you?" She asked them.  
  
They lifted their attached hands.  
  
"We're stuck." Harry said meekly. "Ah, so were you the victims of Neville's potion, besides himself I mean?" Madame Pomfrey said, glaring at Neville.  
  
He shrunk away and looked embarrassed. So he wasn't in deep thought, his hand was just stuck.  
  
"I wouldn't be so angry if he had remembered all the amounts ingredients he put in it. Then we could at least make up an antidote. Now we'll have to experiment in the combinations, until we find the right one, or wait until it wears off, whichever comes first." She explained.  
  
Harry's eyes widened and Hermione looked a bit faint.  
  
"So we're really." He started, unbelieving. "Stuck." Neville said, his head hung over. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Yup, great isn't it! Once again R&R. Oh and if you feel like listening to what I have to say, please go read my friend Nayhlei's harry potter fanfic I like it so far, and I hope you will too! 


	2. The whispers are deafening

New chapter because my friend kept bugging me about it, wow I'm just a writing machine, and I don't work for nobody but you, my great reviewers. Please R&R (read and review)! Enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"We're stuck?" Hermione asked for the millionth time. "Yes!" Madame Pomfrey snapped. "What. how is this supposed to work?" Harry asked, mind buzzing with the millions of things that seemed impossible to do with a girl's hand attached to your own.  
  
He looked over to Hermione and saw in her face that she was thinking, "how do I get out of this?" He felt bad about the whole situation, he had been the one to grab her hand, not the other way around. His thoughts were interrupted by Madame Pomfrey.  
  
"Well I'll let Professor Mcgonagal know about this and she can make arrangements for you two, but for now I think you two should go back to Griffindor tower and wait for her there." She turned to Neville, "You, however, can stay right where you are."  
  
Neville got a gloomy look on his face. Harry pitied him slightly, but not enough to not be mad at him. Not really mad, he was too overcome with worrying for that. As they walked through the halls they did not talk, the silence was depressing. Then they heard the sounds of people coming out of their classes, Harry tried not to notice their stares but it wasn't just the staring, it was the whispering.  
  
"I knew it.."  
  
He recognised the voice that whispered this, it was Cho, talking to her friends. He tried to imagine what followed this sentence.  
  
I knew it.. He was always with Hermione Granger, even when we were going out. I even confronted him about it, and the worst thing was that he wouldn't even admit that he liked her like that. Imagine he went to see her on our first date!  
  
Harry blushed in embarrassment at what she was saying in his thoughts, he tried to ignore the image of her in his mind and continue walking.  
  
"What are you guys doing?" "Hey Ron." Hermione greeted.  
  
He looked down to their hands and lifted and eyebrow.  
  
"Did you guys 'get together' over the summer?" he asked, speculatively. "WHAT?!!!" Harry yelled. "Ron, have you been reading your sister's teen romance novels again?" Hermione asked him, lifting an eyebrow in mimic.  
  
Ron didn't lose face but Harry did notice that his ears reddened.  
  
"Alright then, you're not holding hands because you're together, just because.. you feel like it?" he asked sarcastically. "Some of Neville's potion got on our hands." Harry explained. "I see." Ron replied, still suspicious. "Ron, don't you have divination next?" Harry asked. "In the North tower?" Hermione added.  
  
Ron's face got considerably whiter.  
  
"Oh no, first class and I'm late, prefects aren't late!" He said, starting to jog through the empty halls. "There's only so much of Ron's sarcasm I can stand in a day." Hermione said, shaking her head slightly.  
  
That lightened the mood as they made the rest of the way to Griffindor tower. The Fat Lady soon came into view.  
  
"Password?" she asked. "Jabberwock." Hermione said.  
  
The painting swung open and they walked into the common room. They awkwardly sat down. She looked to him.  
  
"So.." he said. "So." she replied. "Hermione.. I'm sorry, you know for getting us stuck like this." He said, sincerely.  
  
She looked slightly surprised.  
  
"Oh no that's okay it was really not our fault and at least we're not caught in some stupid position like Neville is." She said, smiling meekly. "Yeah, but Rita Skeeter would get a kick out of this, huh?" Harry said.  
  
Hermione snorted.  
  
"Doubt it, this time it's true so she might not be so interested." She said, smiling.  
  
Finally Professor Mcgonagal arrived in the common room. She sighed and shook her head.  
  
"The situations you kids get yourselves into.. now, here are your living changes.." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Thanks for reading, and please, as always, R&R! Oh yea, and go check out my friend Nayhleii's story (last chapter I wrote it wrong -.-') 


	3. Living Arangements

Third chapter, enjoy! Please read & review. This chapter is kind of weird because it's just them at first just figuring out how different their lives will be. But I really liked writing this chapter, the emotions, ooh! I finished all my Christmas shopping and am now broke, just thought I'd say that.  
  
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Harry and Hermione went into the sixth year boy's dorm and started moving Harry's stuff out. The first thing that they had to change was the living arrangements, Mrs McGonagal's voice was still in his mind.  
  
"Harry, you are to move into the girl's dormitory since it would be less problematic for you to move in with the girls than if Hermione moved in with the boys."  
  
'How do I get myself into these problems..' he thought, with a piece of luggage under his arm. He blushed at the thought that he would be living with girls now.  
  
"Secondly, we will make Hermione's bed larger and set a spell on it so that you stay on your respective sides. "  
  
'Respective sides.. did she think that we would..' Hermione thought, turning beet red.  
  
They walked up the steps to the girl's dorm.  
  
"And lastly, the matter of your courses. You have a choice, either you take turns going to Harry's classes on one day and then Hermione's the next day, but this would make it so you have so much homework to catch up on so I advise against it. Or the second choice is for one of you to drop the courses you don't have with the other and take their courses. This would mean that you'd have to catch up with the rest of the class but it can be achieved within a few weeks time."  
  
Harry had chosen to drop divination and go into Arithmancy with Hermione since she looked so upset at the thought of getting back into Divination.  
  
Now they were in the girl's dormitory. Lavender and Parvati gasped at the sight of them.  
  
"So it's true! You are staying here!" They said to Harry.  
  
"Uh.. yeah but you know, it's because they didn't want Hermione in a dormitory full of guys." He offered.  
  
They nodded but looked at Harry suspiciously. He was nervous already, he didn't think Parvati forgot about him ignoring her at the fourth year winter ball. Hermione looked at Harry and squeezed his hand. He looked to her and she smiled encouragingly. He smiled too and put down his suitcase.  
  
"Hey Hermione, Ron's saying a whole lot of stupid stuff, is it true that.." Ginny came in, and stopped, seeing Harry.  
  
She frowned slightly.  
  
"So he wasn't lying like a stupid git, I thought you guys had just gotten together and he was saying that you were stuck because he was jealous." She said, laughing.  
  
"How many people think that?" Hermione asked, with Harry scuffling his feet uncomfortably.  
  
"Lots." Lavender said.  
  
"Yeah, so many people were talking about you guys." Parvati added.  
  
"..And how did it happen, really? People are going on about an ancient curse or something." Ginny said.  
  
Harry tensed and Hermione widened her eyes. They knew that a lot of people had been staring at them in the hallways but they didn't think that that many people had seen them.  
  
"Well.. Neville made a potion and we got it on our hands and it made us stuck together." Hermione explained.  
  
"Oh so someone had gotten that stuff on themselves.. No one besides you guys and Neville have seemed to get some on yourselves, isn't that strange?" Parvati asked.  
  
"But a better question would be why were you guys holding hands?" Lavender asked.  
  
The three girls looked over to them.  
  
Harry jumped in quickly, " Well, um we had to get out of there quickly and I didn't really know what that gunk would do exactly so I pulled her out of there.." he said, blushing.  
  
"Yeah, for all we know that stuff could have been poisonous." Hermione added.  
  
Lavender and Parvati merely smiled mischievously. They seemed all right with Harry staying there until they found an antidote. Ron, however wasn't.  
  
"Harry, where did your stuff go?" He asked when they came back to the common room.  
  
Harry got an uncomfortable look on his face and wondered how to put it.  
  
"Well, Ron, the thing is I won't exactly be staying in the boy's dormitory anymore." He said, sneaking a look to Hermione, who was looking rather uncomfortable herself.  
  
'Great, he's going to be so mad.' She thought.  
  
"Since we're still stuck," She lifted their connected hands up to emphasise it. "He's staying in the girl's dormitory."  
  
Ron looked mortified.  
  
"Wait.. you mean you two.. together.. bed?" He said, unbelieving.  
  
"Quiet Ron.." Harry said, nervously, looking around the room.  
  
"And.. Harry is not staying in the boy's dormitory?" Ron asked.  
  
"There's not much we can do, Ron, until we find an antidote." Hermione said to him.  
  
He shook his head and stomped off to the dormitory. Harry and Hermione shared a look.  
  
"Do you think he'll be alright?" She asked.  
  
"I think so, I mean, it's not our fault, he can't stay mad at us.. I think." He said, unsure.  
  
That night in the common room Hermione was helping Harry catch up in Arithmancy. Looking down at his papers filled with notes, provided by Hermione, Harry stopped and looked at her. She looked back into his green eyes, confused.  
  
"What?" she asked, putting a sheet of notes down.  
  
"This is going to be weird." He answered.  
  
She looked down to the notes.  
  
"Yeah, it is." She replied.  
  
"There always seems to be rumours about one of us, and now it's going to be even worse." He said, looking away too.  
  
"Couldn't be helped I guess, but I'm glad I got stuck with you instead of anyone else." She said, looking to him.  
  
He met her eyes.  
  
"Really?" he asked.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Yeah, sure it would have been easier if it was with a girl, but I'm better friends with you, so if it had to happen again I wouldn't change a thing." She said.  
  
Harry smiled, Hermione smiled too, his smile was addictive and it was hard to resist.  
  
"You say that now but wait until a week has gone by and you'll be begging Neville to find an antidote." He said.  
  
"What makes you think you won't crack first?" She asked, resting her cheek on her left hand.  
  
"Because I'm glad I got stuck with you too." He said.  
  
Hermione laughed.  
  
"You mean you're glad you get to sleep in the girl's dormitory." She said.  
  
"No way, if it were up to me, I'd be in the guy's dormitory, I won't be able to stand Lavender and Parvati's constant giggling for long." He laughed.  
  
"I had to live with it for five years, so you better get used to it." She said.  
  
Harry looked over to the dying fire.  
  
"Hmm it's pretty late." He said.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Yeah we better get to sleep." She said.  
  
'Have to get used to the we part of it.' He thought, getting nervous and blushing slightly.  
  
In the dim room Hermione didn't see him blush.  
  
'Okay.. now this will be extremely awkward but I hope it'll be alright.' She thought as they went upstairs.  
  
Knowing that getting changed wouldn't be possible with their hands connected, Professor Mcgonagal taught them and incantation for changing clothes. Hermione changed into some pyjamas and so did Harry. If he had been in the boy's dormitory he would have just changed into some pyjama bottoms and wear nothing on top but since he was staying in the girl's dormitory he decided to change his nightwear slightly.  
  
They got in the bed. They kept a respectable distance between themselves thanks to the spell. Hermione wasn't used to sleeping in a bed with someone else so she was awake for awhile. She heard Harry sigh and knew he wasn't either.  
  
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Hope you liked it, once again read & review! No idea when the next chapter is going to come out, but hopefully soon, I love writing this fanfic!  
  
Recommended Harry Potter fanfics: The Unnatural Calm by Nayhleii 


	4. Just a tad creepy

New chapter! Thanks for all the reviews, hope you like this new chapter. Don't worry Ron lovers (but can't say I'm one myself), he's not going to sulk for long.. hmmm.. can I make that promise? *thinks into the story line* Okay.. he'll eventually get over himself. Oh yeah go check out my friend Nayhleii's fics, she has one that's going to have h/hr shipping and one that's not about Harry Potter, but is a good read if you like Tamora Pierce's books.  
  
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Harry woke up the next morning later than he usually woke up, drowsily he looked to his left and saw Hermione. He was surprised for a bit before he remembered that they were stuck together. He calmed down and sat up, trying not to wake Hermione.  
  
"AH!" he exclaimed.  
  
He felt her stir a little in her sleep but Hermione didn't wake up. Harry had been surprised by Lavender and Parvati staring at them.  
  
"What are you doing?" he whispered.  
  
"Staring at you two."  
  
"But.. why?" he asked them, exasperated.  
  
They looked to each other and in unison they said "You two are so cute!"  
  
Harry looked at them incredulously and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Okay, new rule, no staring at us when we're sleeping, it's kind of.. surprising to see first thing when you wake up." He said, lying back down.  
  
Lavender sighed, annoyed.  
  
"Fine.." "..Alright."  
  
Hermione, beside him woke up sleepily, eyes barely opened she looked over to the girls, then to Harry, then she lifted their connected hands. She opened her eyes wider.  
  
"Oh, right.." she said.  
  
After getting dressed they headed down to the great hall for breakfast. They should have known, as soon as they came in all eyes were on them, the hall was alive with whispering, and some not whispering at all, but saying quite clearly what they thought of this. Harry ignored them and went to their table. He unclenched his jaw. One of the people he could hear clearly was Draco Malfoy saying "So, Potter and the mudblood? I'd hate to see their children!"  
  
He stabbed his pancakes angrily. Hermione gave him a look and he became a little less mad, he now stabbed his pancakes half hearted. Then he stopped and sighed.  
  
"He'll stop after a few days, that or people will stop listening to him." She told him, though unsure of it herself.  
  
Harry didn't reply, instead he looked around for Ron, without success.  
  
Throughout the day they went to their classes with a lot of people asking what happened, and looking suspicious when they explained, and Ron ignoring them. They had tried to talk to him, but he just turned and did his work for once. Like Hermione had told him to do so many times, without him actually doing it. Harry had felt sorry for Hermione since she didn't have her right hand free to write, but he stopped when he found out she was ambidextrous and so could write with both hands.  
  
"I never knew you were ambidextrous.." He told her.  
  
She smiled.  
  
"Now you do, I like writing in my right hand better, but left hand's just as fine." She said.  
  
Harry also had his first Arithmancy class, and he found out what the class was all about. He looked to Hermione, suspiciously.  
  
"Arithmancy is divination using numbers, I thought you didn't like divination?" He said, accusingly.  
  
She rolled her eyes.  
  
"Harry didn't you think I hated Trelawny more? Plus I like this kind of divination since it gives me something easy to work with, numbers." She explained.  
  
He had to admit, though Arithmancy was hard, it wasn't a shot in the dark like it was in Divination. Professor Vector taught the class, she (I'm guessing they're female, correct me if I'm wrong) was nice but she knew how to control a class, much like Professor McGonagal.  
  
'Guess that's another reason she likes this class.' He thought, seeing Hermione enthusiastically scribbling down numbers.  
  
Little by little they were starting to get used to being stuck together, but they both knew that there would soon be problems that would arise. After having dinner in the great hall they left off to the infirmary. When they got there they saw Neville looking confused.  
  
"Um.. maybe a shred of wattleroot?" he said, unsure.  
  
The potion that Madame Pomfrey was brewing looked worse than Neville's first one. Harry looked to Hermione with the shared look of worry. Neville finally noticed they had come in.  
  
"Oh, hi guys, I was just figuring out some possibilities, we had been testing them all day." He said, pointing to mounds of Popsicle sticks, covered with a variety of potions, but none sticking together.  
  
None like the potion that spilled on their hands. Hermione looked at all the Popsicle sticks and her heart sunk.  
  
'That many unsuccessful tries..' she thought, trying not to let Neville see her disappointment.  
  
"We just came to see how you're doing, Neville.." Harry told him.  
  
Neville glanced briefly at the potion then looked back to them.  
  
"Well.. I'm alright I guess, don't worry, I'll narrow it down soon enough and you two can be free again." He said, looking tired.  
  
"Don't work too hard, though, okay?" Hermione said.  
  
Neville opened his mouth to talk but then Madame Pomfrey spoke.  
  
"He hasn't been working that hard, I'm the one who has to brew this stuff and make sure the ingredients he lists off won't create some horrifying after effect of some kind. He has a lot more guessing, so you better leave him to it, and get used to the fact that you're stuck together." She told them.  
  
Harry and Hermione said bye to Neville, feeling sorry for him.  
  
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Please read & review! I don't know when I'm getting the next chapter up, but I'm starting it right after I finish writing this. 


	5. Bubbles, lots and lots of bubbles

Has the thought of bathing ever occurred to you? You thought that there could be a magical spell, right? Wrong. Please read & review.  
  
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On the way back to Griffindor tower Harry remembered something that made him wish he hadn't.  
  
"I just remembered something, how.. how are we supposed to bathe?" He asked, turning red.  
  
Hermione's face mimicked his by turning the reddest it could.  
  
"I.. I don't know!" she said.  
  
Hermione's heart was pounding.  
  
'Oh god this is embarrassing, I never thought that I would have this conversation with Harry, with anyone really!' she thought.  
  
Harry's mind was racing.  
  
'This is Hermione, one of my best friends, and we're discussing taking a bath together?! This has been weird enough being stuck with her, sleeping in the same bed as her, but taking a bath together?' He tried to regain some of his normal skin pigmentation, but alas his face was still red as a tomato.  
  
They were glad that they were in an uncrowded hall but soon they fell silent.  
  
"It shouldn't really matter.." she started.  
  
"No, it shouldn't.." he replied.  
  
"After all we're friends" she said.  
  
"Yeah, it's not really something that should matter.." he said.  
  
"No.." she replied.  
  
They were both looking to the ground. They eventually looked up to each other.  
  
"Ron's going to be mad" Harry announced.  
  
"Then we'll just not tell him" Hermione said.  
  
"Or if it comes to it, tell him the truth" he said  
  
"That we couldn't think of any alternatives?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, and that it wasn't something to get so worked up over, after all we're just friends." He said.  
  
"Yes, of course." She responded.  
  
'Well if Harry's okay with it, I am too.. alright it'll be weird but I can't think of any spells that would help us here.' She thought.  
  
'No way out of it I guess, she seems alright with it, so at least we might not act totally awkward afterwards.' He thought.  
  
He suddenly thought of something.  
  
"Hermione, you're a prefect, right?"  
  
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There they were in the prefect's bathroom. Both of them were nervous about this. Hermione held the towel against her tighter. The plan was: Bubbles, lots and lots of bubbles. Harry leaned down, holding the towel covering his lower body, he turned on the tap and as water started to fill the tub, he added bubble bath. They closed their eyes and jumped in.  
  
'So far not too bad..' she thought.  
  
She had tried not to notice his nicely toned upper body but couldn't help looking. Girls didn't just like him because he was 'the boy who lived'. There were a lot of bubbles now, covering the whole bath which had been their plan so that they weren't so bothered by the fact that they were bathing together. It helped. A bit.  
  
'Bubbles.. good, now I just have to forget that Hermione's naked..' he thought, nearly smacking his head against the wall of the tub, trying to forget.  
  
Hermione was trying to wash her hair one handed and was failing. She lifted her other arm, for a second forgetting that they were stuck together. She sighed and let that arm, along with Harry's fall into the bubbles. Harry was having an easier time washing his hair, since it was shorter, although still having trouble.  
  
"Need some help?" he said, the first one to speak since they got in the bath.  
  
She hesitated.  
  
"Alright." She accepted.  
  
Slowly he came closer to her, trying not to get too close. He took some shampoo and started working it through her thick brown hair. It was much easier this way. Hermione held her breath as he helped her wash her hair, they were so close. He eventually stopped, for a moment she wondered why.  
  
"There.. you go." He managed to say.  
  
She shook herself and rinsed off her hair. He retreated to his original spot and continued washing his hair. This time Hermione came closer.  
  
"Need some help?" she said in a deep voice, mimicking him.  
  
He was glad that she could find some humour in this, perhaps he could too. He tilted his head, making out like he was thinking about it for awhile.  
  
"Alright." He responded in a high pitched voice, mimicking her.  
  
She helped him wash his hair and then he rinsed his hair. They didn't speak much the rest of the bath and mostly kept back to back. They soon finished and left for Griffindor tower. Once in the common room they went to sit at a table for Harry's nightly Arithmancy cram session.  
  
Opening his book, he noticed that Hermione smelled like the peach bubble bath they had put in. He took out the Arithmancy book that the school was lending him while he ordered his own book and the smell of the peach was overpowered by the smell of old books. He frowned but set to work. She started to tell him how to use certain numbers to gain an answer that will show you the nature of something. (can you tell I don't know what I'm talking about?) She paused as he ran his hand through his hair, hair that she had helped him wash while they were taking a bath together. He noticed that she had stopped and he looked at her quizzically. She blushed and continued, trying to suppress the memory.  
  
"Hey guys"  
  
Hermione and Harry nearly jumped out of their skin at the sound of Ron's voice. They felt sure that what they had just done was written on their face.  
  
"Ron!" He said.  
  
"Hi!" she said.  
  
Ron didn't seem to notice their jumpiness.  
  
"Guys.. I'm sorry for how I acted before, I understand that you can't get out of sleeping in the same bed. After all you guys are friends and I trust.." He said but stopped.  
  
He looked at them both.  
  
"Both of your hair is wet.." He said to them.  
  
"Ron.. it.." Hermione started.  
  
"BUBBLES! LOTS AND LOTS OF BUBBLES." Harry said, panicking.  
  
She gave him a look and turned to Ron.  
  
"Ron, we had to take one sooner or later, and we couldn't see anything.." she said.  
  
"No what really gets me is that you guys didn't tell me you were together, and even now you can't admit it to me." Ron said.  
  
Harry shared a look with Hermione. Ron just didn't want to listen. Harry made a decision.  
  
"Sorry we didn't tell you sooner?" He said.  
  
Her jaw dropped in disbelief.  
  
'That little..!!'  
  
"Thank you for finally admitting to me!" Ron said, actually looking relieved.  
  
When he turned his back Harry gave her a 'sorry, please don't kill me' look. She chose to ignore it as she wrapped her hands around his throat. Ron turned quickly and Harry pulled her close to him to cover the near strangulation. Ron laughed.  
  
"You two just can't take your hands off each other, can you?" he said.  
  
"No, I just can't seem to.." she said, trying to wrap her hands around his throat again.  
  
Harry smiled as if this was a joke before Ron returned to the boy's dormitory.  
  
"I'm going to kill you!" She whispered, heatedly.  
  
He lifted his hands to try to keep her at bay.  
  
"Do you think he would have accepted 'no, we're not together but, yes we're bathing together'? You know he would have just gotten mad again and maybe not talk to us for weeks. And this is Ron, he's not going to tell anyone." He whispered back.  
  
"Yeah I guess you're right.." she said.  
  
As soon as he said his sentence, he noticed Ron talking to Lavender and Parvati.  
  
".And if everyone in the school knows we could just act it out, right?" he said, still staring at Lavender and Parvati.  
  
She looked to where he was looking.  
  
"Great.." she said, crossly.  
  
"I'm sorry.. this is all my fault, I shouldn't have told him." He said, apologetically.  
  
"What if I like someone, Mr Potter?" she asked, daring him to answer.  
  
"Then dump me." He replied.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"You heard me, dump me." He repeated.  
  
"We were never going out!" she said, furiously.  
  
"We can plan this all out, after all, how long do relationships last in this school? Two weeks? We could act like we were dating for two weeks, then you dump me in the great hall, but we wouldn't act too cold to each other since we're friends." He said, looking her in the eye.  
  
She blushed at the suggestion.  
  
"If I was going along with this, I would be doing you a favour, since you got me in this mess, right?" she said.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Then alright, but don't expect me to kiss you just because we're 'going out'." She said.  
  
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Once again read and review. 


	6. You can stab your flapjacks

New chapter! I'm back from the world of vacation! Thank you for all your reviews! While we're on the subject, please read and review! I trust you'll find this chapter to your liking, I know I like it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry and Hermione were walking down to the dungeons, with Hermione looking cross. He frowned at her.  
  
"At least act happy, we're supposed to be girlfriend and boyfriend, remember?" He told her.  
  
She gave him a dirty look.  
  
"Okay, how's this?" she said.  
  
She forcefully pulled him against her, winding her arm around his neck. Harry blushed at the surprising closeness.  
  
"Wha..?" he asked.  
  
She put on a charming smile and put her face close to his.  
  
"Oh Harry, I'm so glad we're together, I love you sooooo much!" she said, in a syrupy sweet voice.  
  
"Way to go, Harry!" came a few voices.  
  
At the voice they spun around, turning bright red. There, to see the whole of her performance was the entire sixth year Gryfindor and Slitherin houses.  
  
"Well Potter has always been crazy for attention, what next? Tickets for your make-out sessions?" That could have only been Malfoy.  
  
Hermione and Harry backed away from each other and were the last to get into Potions class.  
  
"Nice one, Hermione." Harry whispered to her.  
  
"Bite me." She responded, angrily.  
  
"No thanks, they might enjoy watching it." He said, pointing out the class, who was watching them.  
  
The rest of the class was spent avoiding getting too close to each other, which would prompt catcalls from the Slitherins. The rest of the day went by like this except they actually had to get close, to keep up the impression. They were glad when their classes ended to get away from it all, they went up to the girl's dormitory. Hermione found a letter on their bed. She looked to Harry, wondering who it could be from. She opened it and found out it was from her parents. She read it to herself.  
  
Dear Hermione, We recently got a letter from Dumbledore saying that you and Harry are stuck together by some sort of magical binding or something like that. Your father is pacing besides me, telling me to ask you 'did he touch you?'  
  
She turned bright red. She forgot that this is the kind of thing that Dumbledore would send a letter to her parents for. She continued reading.  
  
But my question is why didn't you tell us first, I want to know what happened, what's going on? Please write back.  
  
Your loving mother and father (who is still bothering me with the same question)  
  
Harry looked at her quizzically. She sighed.  
  
"I forgot that Dumbledore would send my parents a letter about us being stuck together." She explained.  
  
He blanched.  
  
"Wait.. so the Dursleys are going to get a letter from the headmaster of the school saying 'Harry had an accident in Potions and now he's stuck to a girl'?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah, basically." She answered.  
  
"I can see the letter that they're going to send back 'I'm not paying for another mouth, so you better get unstuck, boy!'" he said, imitating his uncle.  
  
Hermione cracked up, it was priceless. Harry went on at the sound of her laughter.  
  
"'I'm not having TWO Hogshash students in MY house!'"  
  
They both went down, clutching their sides, laughing. She wiped a tear from her eye as the chuckles receded. She looked at him serious for a moment.  
  
"Harry, I'm sorry I was being mean to you this morning, I guess I was still mad about the whole 'we're dating' thing." She said.  
  
"Don't worry about it." He told her, getting up.  
  
She got up too. He stroked a hand on his chin, pensively.  
  
"Hmm our next performance can be our first kiss, how bout it?" he said, laughing.  
  
She grimaced and pushed him. He tripped and fell on the ground, pulling her down with him. They ended up Hermione lying on top of Harry, faces close together.  
  
"Woah!"  
  
They looked over and saw Parvati leaving quickly.  
  
"People keep on coming in at the wrong time!" Hermione said.  
  
"I guess now news around the school will be a little more than our first kiss, huh?" he said, sighing.  
  
And it was, oh how it was.  
  
"Parvati walked in right in the middle of it!"  
  
"I knew that they would eventually, sleeping in the same room and they're boyfriend and girlfriend, how can I get a deal like that?"  
  
"I heard Hermione was the dominating one, did you see her with him in the halls that lead to the Potion's room?"  
  
'Why can't life ever be simple?' she asked herself, looking down to her plate of pancakes, trying to ignore the whispering.  
  
Gripped with sudden rage she repeatedly stabbed her pancakes with her fork. Harry stopped her.  
  
"Hey you can't stab your pancakes, that's my way of expending rage, find your own." He said.  
  
She looked over to his plate and found his pancakes filled with holes.  
  
"Well there's nothing else to stab, what am I supposed to do, Harry?" She asked him.  
  
"I don't know, does it have to involve stabbing?" he said, stabbing his pancakes again.  
  
"YES! Because that's what I want to do right now, except not to pancakes and not with a fork, the whispering is getting to me." She said.  
  
"Me too, that's why I need my trademark stabbing pancakes, alright?" he said, angrily.  
  
"And why does it have to be yours?" she asked, just as angry.  
  
"Fine, you can have your trademark stabbing, but not for pancakes, we're going to call them flapjacks, okay?! Now everyone's happy!!" He said, throwing a hand in the air wildly.  
  
She shoved some pancakes onto his plate.  
  
"Here." She said.  
  
He now stabbed the pancakes with more zeal than ever and she went back to stabbing her 'flapjacks'.  
  
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Please read and review! 


	7. Green and mesmerising

This chapter is dedicated to: CrAzY Pigwidgeon, Molly, and Carly.  
  
This chapter was made possible with help from CrAzY Pigwidgeon, she did all the readings, again thanks for all the Arithmancy help! I'm graciously updating despite having two of my final exams on Tuesday. Thanks for all the reviews and hope you like the chapter!  
  
To coolone007 and Psy_Girl: I'd rather not go to the whole toilet issue, because I've thought it over and.. no.. just no.  
  
My question to you, my fans, is should Harry and Hermione get 'a little more intimate'?  
  
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Harry and Hermione were getting used to people staring at them, knowing that now they were a 'couple'. They sat down in their Arithmancy class, getting out their books. Professor Vector smiled at her pupils, she stood up from her desk and stood before them.  
  
"Today we will not be doing notes." She said, to the rejoicing of the class, some people even started cheering.  
  
She waited for them to quiet down and she continued.  
  
"Instead you will be partnered up and be doing each other's personality readings." She said.  
  
She started to pair up people who didn't know each other at all, Harry guessed so that they weren't just saying what they already knew about each other. Hermione and him were paired up together, obviously, there really was no helping that.  
  
"Go to page 173 for instructions." Professor Vector said to the class.  
  
So with that they went to work. First Hermione did Harry's reading, she finished quickly, writing down all she got about his personality through the reading. She looked up at him from the parchment.  
  
"Here you go Harry, if you didn't know yourself before, now is the revelation." She said, grinning.  
  
He grinned back.  
  
"You are peaceful, loyal, just, and you're good-natured. You can be authoritarian and you don't like to be told what to do. You can act a certain way one minute but the next you're totally different. So far it sounds like you, except for the good-natured part." she teased him.  
  
He frowned at her.  
  
"Well you're.." he started in on her but she interrupted him.  
  
"See?"  
  
He was about to say something but decided to let her keep going.  
  
"Your fears are to be a recluse or to become egocentric. Your desires are to be concentrated on your task and to follow it out until the end." She finished.  
  
Harry thought about all she just said.  
  
"So, is that you, Mr Potter?" she asked him, playfully.  
  
He played along.  
  
"It sounded noble enough to be me, Ms Granger, now how about we do your reading?" he said, getting some parchment out.  
  
It took much longer for him to find out her personality but he eventually got it.  
  
"You, my dear are organised, energetic, stable, realistic, you love to work hard, you're hard-headed, and will often have angry bursts." He told her.  
  
She still had the playful look on her face. He lifted his hand and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. He then took her hand and looked deeply into her eyes, his face looked serene and pleasant. She was confused, she looked back into his green eyes as he did into her brown ones. She forgot that there were people all around them. The smile spread across his face made him look rather handsome, she thought, it was a soft smile. She wished her heart would stop beating as fast as it had in the baths.  
  
"But it's okay, I'm altogether used to your angry bursts." He said, laughter in his eyes.  
  
Hermione snatched her hand away and punched him, not very hard, for looking into her eyes like that and then making fun of her.  
  
"Your worst fear is in fact to have angry bursts and to be stubborn. Your desires are to work hard, to be logical and reliable." He finished.  
  
They looked up and found all the rest of the class had finished, probably because Harry had been slow to write Hermione's personality up, and they seemed to have spent the rest of the time watching them. Hermione opened her mouth but then Harry leapt up, wrenching her right arm up too.  
  
"Is that all you people can do? Watch us?!!" He yelled at the class.  
  
The class was speechless, including Hermione. As he sat back down the class stopped staring at them and talked amongst themselves. She was a little nervous about talking to him after all that but he flashed her a smile, this time genuine. He leaned towards her and she wondered, fleetingly, if he was going to kiss her.  
  
'Damn his eyes.. they're so green, and mesmerising..' she thought.  
  
As he leaned closer she closed her eyes, expecting his lips on hers. When she didn't feel him kiss her she opened her eyes. He was looking at her strangely.  
  
"Why did you close your eyes?" he asked her, lifting an eyebrow in confusion.  
  
"I'm.. tired." She explained, yawning.  
  
He took the excuse without question, and leaned in to do what he really had meant to do, which was to whisper something in her ear.  
  
"Yeah, I just thought that I would save you that angry burst." He told her.  
  
She reddened, she had been going to say that.  
  
"Thanks." She told him, smiling.  
  
He ran his hand through his hair and grinned.  
  
"Anything for my girlfriend."  
  
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Please read and review! Please go read my friend Nayhleii's fics, she has a few Harry Potter ones, and there's one that's finished so.. yeah! 


	8. Don't want her to feel unapreciated

Ooh I'm updating so quickly! Today I have all my exams so I might write later in the week. Okay for the most part 'yes' for the intimate thing, so here you are! Thank you for all the reviews and please, feel the need to do so again!  
  
Hey I like dedicating chapters to people! This chapter is dedicated to: YOU! My reviewers!  
  
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Ever since Harry and Hermione had become a 'couple' they had tried to avoid the Griffindor common room when it was crowded but tonight Ron implored them to stay because he hadn't been seeing much of them lately. Harry couldn't believe the group of people who sat around them, instead of going off into their own groups but he soon found out why. They were a new couple: fresh meat.  
  
"You know what? I have heard tons of rumours about you guys but I've never actually seen you two kiss. Why is that?" Ginny said, Dean's arms around her shoulders.  
  
Hermione shot him a look. Harry shifted uncomfortably at the subject.  
  
"Well.." he started.  
  
"Hey I've noticed that too." Said someone else.  
  
"You see.." Harry tried to continue but soon many more people were talking about how he's never kissed her.  
  
Hermione started to look like he felt: overwhelmed.  
  
"Come on Harry, you don't want to make Hermione feel under appreciated, now do you?" Seamus said with a grin.  
  
Harry shot him a glare. Soon he found words coming out of his mouth before he could think them over.  
  
"I've kissed Hermione tons of times," he lied "Just not in front of you, Seamus, but if you need proof, I'd be happy to oblige." He finished.  
  
She sat in shock while he said this but when he turned to her she lost that look for a different one, he couldn't really recognise it but he remembered that she wore a look like that in Arithmancy class. He began to get nervous and hoped that he wasn't a bad kisser because he didn't want Hermione to be any more mad at him. The soft light of the fire reflected on her face, she looked gorgeous Harry realised. With his right hand he cupped her cheek and leaned in, closing his eyes. Their lips locked.  
  
She hadn't known that he would be such a good kisser. Not that she had much to go by but she knew that she had liked that kiss. She was almost embarrassed that he would kiss her that way.. so sensuously. The feelings she got afterwards were something that she didn't think she could feel for Harry, they were so close, or maybe that was it, they were close and that was why she was starting to feel this way. When they parted they were greeted with amused looks from the people around them.  
  
"Awww.. so cute." Parvati commented.  
  
Hermione blushed and tried to not look at Harry, if she did, she feared her feelings would show on her face if they hadn't already. The rest of the time that they had spent in the common room she wondered if he had just done that to please their audience or if maybe he felt the same way about her.  
  
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Ever since the kiss Hermione had seemed distant, Harry didn't like it at all. They were now preparing their stuff to take a bath. Harry was finding it harder and harder to think of her as 'Hermione my friend who's just going to take a bath with me' as he started to think of her more as 'Hermione my friend who is a girl who I'm starting to have feelings for and OH MY GOD she's there naked besides me'. When they were walking to the bathroom Harry blurted something out.  
  
"Come on, just say it, I'm a bad kisser."  
  
She looked surprised, he hadn't expected her to look surprised, she had been distant all week, she must have known this was coming.  
  
"What are you talking about, Harry?" she asked him, quizzically.  
  
"You know, it's not my fault," he said in exasperation "It's not like I've been around kissing tons of girls, but ignoring me ever since I kissed you, that's cold." He finished, looking away, embarrassed that he was admitting that he was a bad kisser.  
  
"Harry, you're not a bad kisser." She reassured him.  
  
He was unconvinced, she was saying that because she didn't want to hurt his feelings.  
  
"Sure.. and that's why you were ignoring me." He said, finally looking at her.  
  
"Harry, trust me, that kiss took my breath away, I wasn't talking much because.. well I have some things I need to think about." She told him.  
  
Harry let out a sigh of relief. He let a playful smile onto his face.  
  
"So, would you like to rate me?" he asked her.  
  
She smiled a small smile.  
  
"Let's see.. nine out of ten." She replied.  
  
He made a grimace and stopped her.  
  
"Why not ten out of ten?" he asked.  
  
"A point deducted for doing it in front of an audience." She explained.  
  
He still felt bad about doing that, but didn't regret kissing her. He drew in a slow breath.  
  
"Want to go for ten?" he asked in a joking tone, he wasn't joking though.  
  
She searched his eyes and he felt nervous, he had no idea what she was thinking. After awhile she started walking again and Harry assumed that she had either thought he was joking or shot him down. She rifled through a bag as she walked, she took out two shampoo bottles.  
  
"I like the peach one better." He said.  
  
He had realised what he said and blushed.  
  
"I mean.. you know it's.. um.. nice?" he said.  
  
She smiled at his incoherent sentences.  
  
"Anything for my boyfriend." She told him, mockingly.  
  
He grimaced.  
  
"Hey, you're not allowed to say that, it's my line!"  
  
"Yes, I'm sure you say that to many of your boyfriends." She laughed.  
  
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Please read and review! And while you're reading this go check out my friend Nayhleii's stories! 


	9. I am very desirable

Wow, 100 reviews, thank you so much everyone that reviewed. My English exam went pretty damn good, got 96 percent, not that I'm boasting, but someone asked. My science exam was hell but I passed, and next year I have biology, physics, and chemistry, fun. Thanks coolone007 for caring about me failing or not. Hope you enjoy the chapter, longer than usual. Please read and review.  
  
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Harry had completely forgotten about Quiditch in all the things that happened until Angelina came up to him and Hermione one day.  
  
"So Harry, are you any closer to finding a cure for that?" she asked, nodding to their connected hands.  
  
Harry gave her a sheepish look and she sighed.  
  
"Our first Quiditch match against Ravenclaw is coming up soon, you need to find some way to be able to play or I'll have to find a new seeker." She told him, seriously.  
  
As she walked away he gulped and looked to Hermione. She gave him a smile.  
  
"We can't have that, can we Mister Potter?"  
  
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"Harry! Just move your arm a bit here.."  
  
"I can't move it any more!"  
  
"Just try!"  
  
They were on the Quiditch pitch late in the night, awkwardly trying to situate themselves on Harry's Firebolt which wasn't any easier given the darkness. They finally found a position which allowed him to steer the broomstick with the hand that was connected to Hermione's and it left him a free hand to catch the Snitch. Hermione had to sit in front of him on the broomstick and, Harry noticed quickly, she had to be very close to him. He blushed at the feel of her body against his chest, but she couldn't see his blush and started talking.  
  
"Okay, let's get going." She said, nervously.  
  
Harry recalled that she wasn't too fond of flying.  
  
"Don't worry, we won't go that fast this time." He reassured her.  
  
"Thanks." She whispered.  
  
Harry smiled and they ascended higher, he felt her tense a little then relax. He slowly did a loop around the pitch, trying to see how easy it was to fly with Hermione there. The weight didn't matter much since he had a Firebolt really it was just the manoeuvrability that had been hindered.  
  
"You can go faster, Harry, I'm not a pansy." She told him crossly.  
  
He blushed, while he was testing the manoeuvrability he hadn't been going faster than 5 km per hour. He went faster.  
  
"That's better." She mumbled.  
  
They flew for a little while more and then they decided to call it a day.  
  
"So do you think we'll be able to do well in the game?" he asked her.  
  
"Well.. you're a great seeker but I think this will be awkward no matter how good you are. I'll try to stay on the broom." She said, making a face.  
  
Harry couldn't help but laugh at the look.  
  
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Hermione gripped harder onto the broomstick as they flew onto the pitch. The Ravenclaw team was already there, all surprised to see two people on a broomstick. The team captain looked incredulously at her and Harry, but she had checked, there was no rule of how many people per broomstick. The two teams all got on their brooms and the game began.  
  
She felt the Firebolt go higher and she tried to even out her breathing.  
  
'It's okay, just calm down, you trust Harry, right?' she thought, knowing the answer.  
  
But still she caught herself holding her breath as they narrowly missed a bludger. They flew around for awhile with Harry looking for the snitch, she felt him lean a little forward.  
  
"Do you see it?" she asked him.  
  
"Yeah, and it's so out in the open I can't believe no one else has." He said in a determined tone.  
  
Hermione looked around for it but she didn't have to search for long. The snitch was hovering in the middle of the pitch, with Katie and Angelina passing the quaffle underneath.  
  
"Oh my go-" she said before she felt the Firebolt speed towards the snitch.  
  
They were almost there when Hermione felt something hit her side. Her whole side stung from whoever had collided with her and it had taken the breath from her. She gasped for a breath, clutching her side, and when you're on a Firebolt going 120 km an hour that is not so good. She felt herself wobble and she had only time to look at her side to see who had hit her before she slipped off the Firebolt. There, glaring for England, was Cho Chang.  
  
She had no time to feel anger as panic seemed to be the dominant emotion right now. Harry grunted with the effort of holding her weight, she tried to grab the broomstick with her other hand but fell inches short. She opted for grabbing Harry's other hand and screaming bloody murder.  
  
"I got you Hermione, stop screaming and I can land us on the pitch." He told her.  
  
"Well I'm sorry Harry but in case you haven't noticed, I'm dangling 60 feet in the air." She told him, heatedly.  
  
"And I'm trying to fix that." He said, sounding angry.  
  
He lost the angry look and took in her panicked face.  
  
"But I need at least one hand to do this, so you're going to have to let go." He told her.  
  
He felt his heart wrench when he saw tears in her eyes.  
  
"Harry, I can't do it, I'm scared." She told him.  
  
"You can do it, just one hand Hermione." He said, his arms starting to ache, he wished he had made the effort to work out maybe then he wouldn't have had to make Hermione do this.  
  
She looked up to him, wide eyed.  
  
"I promise to be careful." He tried, meaning it.  
  
He felt her hand slip out of his. He smiled and guided the Firebolt to the ground. Hermione wiped her eyes and got back on the broom. They went back to searching for the snitch with people asking them if everything was alright. She told them that everything was fine and to go back to what they were supposed to be doing.  
  
Harry squinted for any sign of the snitch, he hadn't seen it since Hermione had fallen off but the game was still going on so Cho hadn't caught it either. Hermione was in her own little world, looking every which way. Finally she pointed to somewhere.  
  
"THERE!!! THE COW IS GOING TO GET IT!!" she yelled before wrenching the Firebolt full force towards Cho Chang.  
  
His eyes widened drastically as they sped past her. He heard her emit a little scream but Harry barely paid attention to it. There it was, the snitch. With Hermione acting the way she was, he half expected her to catch the snitch him too. But he stretched out and snatched it before anything else could happen.  
  
"160 TO 40 GRIFFINDOR WINS!!!" Lee Jordan screamed enthusiastically.  
  
The crowd erupted into cheering. They landed back on the ground and joined in with hugging the team, even though it was hard to do so attached. Near the end, which was at the party in the common room, they mostly hugged each other. People came by to congratulate Harry or to comment on how cute they were from time to time. Hermione smiled as she hugged him again.  
  
"I can't believe I gave you tips for dating her, what a bitch." She told him.  
  
His chest shook with laughter.  
  
"She couldn't help her jealousy, what can I say? I am a very desirable man." He replied.  
  
She looked up to him with the faintest look of playfulness.  
  
"Desirable? Oh yes, you're desirable all right, as in I desire you to stop being so full of yourself." She told him.  
  
He lifted and eyebrow and grinned.  
  
"Oh you don't believe me? Alicia, am I desirable?" he asked the chaser.  
  
She looked taken aback but she played along.  
  
"Sure Harry, you're damn sexy."  
  
"Angelina, am I desirable?" he asked his captain.  
  
"Harry, for 150 points you're desirable all right." She laughed.  
  
He turned to Hermione, triumphant.  
  
"See?" he taunted, not at all caring that one was only because he caught the snitch.  
  
She rolled her eyes at his child-like antics. The party lasted late in the night and at around one thirty Harry and Hermione decided to call it a night.  
  
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Please read and review! 


	10. Snowy Valentine's date

Hey guys sorry for the crappy Quiditch game last chapter, but I can't say I'm too good at describing sports, no matter how cool. No one had to stay out of the game because they counted Harry and Hermione as one person, really it wasn't an advantage in the ref.'s eyes since it was hard to manoeuvre so everything worked out. As for the fact that Angelina, Katie, and Alicia still being on the team, sorry I forgot about them graduating so for the sakes of the story let's just say they failed their seventh year. Valentine's day theme, ooh! Hope you like, it took me forever to write. Please read and review. If you have the chance go read my friend Nayhleii's fics she has two great ones: Harry Potter and the desired loss (which is a sequel to her other completed fic), and What could have been. Everyone have a great Valentine's day! *throws heart shaped confetti*  
  
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(I'm sorry if I'm fast forwarding but I didn't want to write a Christmas chapter in February)  
  
Harry the next day frowned in his Arithmancy class, he couldn't seem to keep his mind fixated to his work. He couldn't believe that Cho would do that to Hermione, he felt his anger well up, just thinking about how she knocked Hermione off the Firebolt.  
  
"Mr Potter, would you rather take down notes at lunch?" Professor Vector asked him.  
  
He snapped back to attention and hurriedly jotted down notes. Hermione looked at him questionably but didn't say anything. After class he noticed how most of the students were talking about Valentine's day plans. He had no idea if he was going to do something with Hermione or what. She didn't say anything to him about Valentine's day so he racked his mind, trying to figure out what to do. It wasn't that their audience fully expected something romantic from him, he wasn't going to give them the pleasure of viewing a romantic act, he just felt like he wanted to do something for her.  
  
"Is something on your mind?" Hermione asked him, encouragingly.  
  
Harry smiled at her.  
  
"It's nothing, just thinking about the game." He lied.  
  
"Oh, I see. Wasn't it great, besides the whole oh-my-god-I'm-dangling-60- feet-in-the-air thing. It was exhilarating." She said.  
  
He laughed a little and smiled all the more.  
  
"So, what have the letters from your parents said? Still concerned?" he asked.  
  
She made a face.  
  
"I didn't lie to them that we were going out but my father's still going on about you touching me and kicking of your ass, blah, blah, blah... But my mom's understanding now that she knows that it's 'that nice young man'." She told him.  
  
He lifted an eyebrow.  
  
"You know, I'm not always nice."  
  
Hermione let out a convincing snort.  
  
"Yeah, sure you aren't." she told him.  
  
"But I'm not, didn't you feel me kiss you?" he asked her.  
  
She stopped laughing promptly.  
  
"An act out of desperation, purely to keep up this charade we have going on." She told him, not looking at him.  
  
He felt heat rise to his face.  
  
'So that's all what she thinks it was? Or maybe all she wanted it to be?' he thought to himself.  
  
"Well... why don't I prove it?" he told her.  
  
She looked at him with an expression of amusement. In the hallway he stopped her and knelt down. Her expression changed instantly to one of confusion. He wondered if this was a mistake, but he couldn't back down now.  
  
"Hermione Granger, will you be my Valentine and go out on a date with me?" he asked her, smiling widely.  
  
Blushing, he saw a flash of a smile but he blinked and it was gone. People were crowding around them, honestly, when weren't they. He felt livid that he couldn't even ask Hermione something serious without an audience, now she was going to think it was an act. He had to think of some way to show her on the date that it was more, he wished that she wouldn't keep him wondering if she was going to say yes. She bit her lower lip and looked hesitant, finally she answered him.  
  
"Of course, Harry." She said, he didn't know if there was any sincerity behind it though, but he grinned anyway.  
  
Coming back up he had an epiphany.  
  
'I know exactly what to do.' He thought.  
  
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Hermione wondered what their 'date' was going to be like, but she noticed he was dragging her down to the library to get some books and he wouldn't tell her what for. Might be for their date, or else something he didn't want to tell her about. But she didn't really care either way, it would have been nice, a real date with Harry but he asked her in the crowded hallway, how could she believe it was a real date then? When he had asked her, she had hated him for a second, asking her out only to appear like they were a couple when she had real feelings for him. But then she remembered that she couldn't hate him when she had no intentions of telling him that she had feelings for him. So all she could do was try to enjoy the date when it came.  
  
On February 14th, Valentine's day, she awaited their date. But... it didn't come, Harry didn't say a single word the whole day about their date so Hermione assumed that either he forgot, or the date thing was all talk. Soon it was late in the night, she and Harry were the only ones in the common room and she was working on some Defence against the dark arts work. Harry, working on a scroll for potions, suddenly put all his stuff away and turned to her.  
  
"You ready for our date?" He asked her, smiling.  
  
He had caught her off guard. She looked at him like he was a crazy man.  
  
"Now?" she asked, the flames in the fireplace dying out.  
  
"Yes, now." He answered, standing up.  
  
He handed her coat to her and put his own on, using the spell, he picked something else up and they left. Still smiling, he pulled her out of the castle. Once out on the snow coated grounds, he stopped her.  
  
"Okay now close your eyes." He ordered.  
  
She complied, wondering what was in store and why he chose to do it at night when their audience would all be asleep.  
  
"Okay you can open them again." He told her.  
  
"Do I have to, I'm half asleep already." She told him jokingly.  
  
"You don't have to but I don't think you want to miss this."  
  
She opened her eyes and immediately her breath caught in her throat. Instead of the dark night as she expected she found circles in the snow to be shining coloured light, the bright myriad of colours she found took her breath away. They were zigzagging a pathway, she noticed. She turned to Harry, at a loss for words. Finally she found some.  
  
"How... did you?" she asked.  
  
"Rocks underneath the snow, with a simple wand stroke to make them glow. Hey, that rhymed. But wait there's more, let's go." He said, taking her along the lighted trail.  
  
They halted near the lake, and she noticed for the first time what he was holding. Harry spread out the blanket onto the snowy ground.  
  
"But isn't it too..." she started before Harry interjected.  
  
"Don't worry it has a spell on it to keep us warm and toasty without melting the snow under it." He explained.  
  
"Wow, I'm impressed, you had this all figured out, what next, Mr Potter?" she asked.  
  
He laid down on the blanket and Hermione did the same.  
  
"Feel like stargazing?" He asked her.  
  
She looked up and realised how clear the sky was tonight. There were so many stars that you normally couldn't see at night at Hogwarts, forget seeing them back home with all the city lights.  
  
"Harry... thank you so much for all this, really. At first I thought you were just doing this for everyone else, but now I see it's not, it's for me, right?" she tried to word the sentence carefully.  
  
He looked at her.  
  
"Of course it's for you Hermione, I... there's something I need to tell you." He said, sitting up.  
  
'Could he...?' she thought, also sitting up and looking at him seriously.  
  
"Through this whole fake relationship I've been noticing that I... well we've been through a lot together ever since we got stuck together and I... think you should get less angry, that way our relationship will seem more realistic." Harry stuttered out.  
  
'THAT was what he wanted to say?' she thought, angrily.  
  
Stone faced, she looked back to the sky and found it no longer interesting.  
  
"Yeah, I'll make note of that, maybe tomorrow I can act as if our date was the most romantic thing ever, should I say it went exactly like this except a lot more kissing?" she asked him, monotonously.  
  
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Harry wanted to die for his lack of courage to say what he meant to say.  
  
"Alright." He answered her, hoping she would forgive him soon.  
  
As Valentine's day finished neither of the students could say that they had a romantic evening, though they had the feelings required they lacked courage to just go out and say it. One of the most romantic days of the year left the two feeling miserable.  
  
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Sorry if I ended that on a DEPRESSING mood but that's what they're feeling and I hope that it doesn't sound gay. Oh well if it does I'll find out. Please read and review. Happy Valentine's! 


	11. I HATE being stuck with you

Here you go! The plot is going faster than I expected it to go but I'll let you find out for yourselves. This isn't cool though, my chapters aren't funny any more, oh well after all the melodrama is over I'll make it funny again. Thank you everyone who reviewed! The reason I ended last chapter so badly is because of what I wanted to write in this chapter, and... okay just read it!  
  
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Hermione was in a bad mood all the next day, people kept asking about their date and she kept having to do the whole "it was so romantic" bit. When she did it though, she made sure to over-exaggerate because she noticed that when she did, Harry twitched a bit and he frowned a little.  
  
'Good, serves you right, Mr let's-do-something-romantic-and-not-even-mean- anything-by-it.' She thought, heatedly.  
  
She pretty much fumed until dinner time, when Harry brought her to Griffindor tower to talk. He looked at her seriously and she was drawn into his eyes. She felt her anger ebb away.  
  
"Hermione, last night, what I said... I didn't mean to make you mad at me." He told her.  
  
Okay, it was back.  
  
"Oh no Harry, I'm not mad, I'm your ever so loving girlfriend who you specifically asked not to get mad at you anymore." She replied.  
  
He frowned at her.  
  
"Come on Hermione, don't be like that. I had wanted to say something else." He stated.  
  
"Then why didn't you?" she snapped.  
  
He stood face to face with her, grabbing her left shoulder.  
  
"Listen, I'm trying to tell you something important." He told her, livid.  
  
She threw him a nasty look. She had no idea why she was feeling so mad at him right now, a small part of her told her to stop and listen to him, but a much larger part screamed for her to rage at him.  
  
"Oh, Harry's mad, I don't know why you didn't want to do this over dinner, people would have gotten a kick out of our little 'couple's fight'." She said, venomously.  
  
"Is that what you think this is? Then maybe we should break up, like we said we would." He told her.  
  
She was shocked for a second but regained the ability to speak.  
  
"Well maybe we should, Mr Potter. While we're at it, we should hurry Neville up with that antidote because, frankly, I'm so sick of being stuck with you." She replied.  
  
He let go of her shoulder and instead glared at her.  
  
"Don't worry, Miss Granger, the feeling is mutual." He agreed.  
  
She glared back.  
  
"I'm sick of sleeping in the same bed."  
  
"Well I'm sick of going to Arithmancy with you."  
  
"And I'm sick of bathing with you."  
  
"I'm sick of washing your hair with peach shampoo."  
  
"Sooooooo... sick of pretending to be your girlfriend."  
  
"I'm sick of kissing you."  
  
"I'm sick of being kissed by you."  
  
"I'm sick of always being around you."  
  
"I'm SO sick of NEVER being alone."  
  
"I HATE being stuck with you."  
  
"I hate being stuck with you too."  
  
"Then let's do it," Harry announced "Let's go break up."  
  
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'Soon...' Harry thought.  
  
The moment they were waiting for, dinner was over and people were pilling into the hallway. They hadn't exactly planned how they were going to break up, Harry had told her to improvise.  
  
SLAP!  
  
His cheek stung, he looked at Hermione, surprised.  
  
"How could you say that, Harry? I hate you!" Her eyes brimmed with fake tears, he wondered if she had practised that on her parents.  
  
He went along with it.  
  
"I didn't mean it! Come on Hermione!" He said.  
  
"No, that's it, we're through! I can't wait until we're unstuck." She told him.  
  
'Well the last part wasn't acting.' He thought.  
  
"Me too." He grumbled.  
  
The shocked students crowded around them. He noticed Parvati, Lavender, and Ginny consoling Hermione, he turned around and saw Seamus, Dean, and Ron trying to do the same.  
  
"Hey, look at it this way, now you're a free man!" Seamus told him.  
  
"Yeah, I guess..." Harry replied.  
  
For the next few hours, they tried not to look at each other too much, which, of course, was hard. Not looking forward to sleeping in a dorm with three girls who wanted to kill him, Harry looked up and saw Neville, breathless, and looking tired.  
  
"Guys!" he yelled.  
  
"Hi Neville." Hermione said.  
  
"Hey Neville." Harry greeted  
  
"I heard that you guys broke up and I was feeling all guilty so I was working twice as hard for finding the cure, and you know I tried so many combinations and eventually something had to work." Neville told them, grinning and showing them the two Popsicle sticks that we're stuck together.  
  
Harry's breath caught, after months of being stuck together, they we're going to be separate, finally? He remembered all the days they had been stuck together, all they had been through, and he hadn't regretted one day of it, before today. He felt Hermione squeeze his hand, she didn't look at him thought so he thought she must have done it subconsciously. How would it feel without her always at his side?  
  
"Thank you Neville, you must have worked so hard." She told him.  
  
Harry suddenly felt guilty for making Neville work so hard just to find the antidote.  
  
"You're welcome, Madame Pomfrey is making the antidote right now, she said to come see her tomorrow so you two can get unstuck." Neville told them, smiling.  
  
Someone called him over so he waved goodbye to Harry and Hermione and left them to themselves.  
  
He couldn't look at her, couldn't stand to see the emotion on her face, fearing it would be elation. He felt guilt and sadness for their fight today.  
  
'I lied, Hermione, I don't hate being stuck with you, in fact I like being with you, and what I had wanted to say on Valentine's day was that I love spending time with you. I have feelings for you.' He thought the words he couldn't say.  
  
He looked quickly at Hermione but she was looking the other way. He thought of what she would have said in reply.  
  
'You can't take all that back, Harry, and I have no idea why you had thought this was fun, this had been the most embarrassing and weird part of my life. You pervert, you probably only like me because you forced me to kiss you all those times, I meant everything I said today, I hate you.'  
  
He hung his head, sighing.  
  
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This wasn't the way she had wanted the fight to go, 'breaking up' sure, there really wasn't a relationship to speak of but then Neville had to work twice as hard for them.  
  
'Why couldn't he have found the cure months ago, so that it would have been less hard, god things will never be the same again, will they?' she thought.  
  
She wanted nothing more than to go to Harry and kiss him, if only for the last time but she remembered what he had said.  
  
'I HATE being stuck with you.'  
  
That had stung, she knew she was a hypocrite for thinking this because she had said the exact same thing to him.  
  
'You, my dear are organised, energetic, stable, realistic, you love to work hard, you're hard-headed, and will often have angry bursts.'  
  
She remembered him telling her that, she couldn't help saying all those things when they were fighting, and she hadn't meant a word of it. She cursed herself silently for being such an idiot and making a big deal out of everything. She had to say something, while she could, before they would be separated. She turned to Harry, opening her mouth to spew some sort of apology but he had his head hung. She lost her courage and looked away.  
  
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Thanks again everyone who reviewed, perhaps you'd like to do so again? Please read and review! 


	12. Pity party

New chapter! Thanks everyone who reviewed, ooh lots of stuff happens this chapter! Hope you like it, please read and review.  
  
Foxxyyy: Here's something to smile about ^^.  
  
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That was it, they were separated. Afterwards Harry felt weird, probably because he got so used to being with Hermione all the time, he felt as if he were missing a part of him. He shook himself and looked at her. She had watched him pack all his bags, without saying a word. He faced her.  
  
"Well I guess I'll see you... at lunch, right?" he asked.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Yeah, at lunch..." she muttered.  
  
Harry went to hug her but stopped himself, remembering their fight. I hate being stuck with you translated in his mind to I hate being with you and he wasn't going to hug her when she didn't want him to. He picked up his trunk and started down the steps, going to the boy's dormitory.  
  
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Hermione watched him go, sighing. She sat down on her bed crossed-legged. She looked at her right hand, it felt weak from hardly using it for months. She had wanted to finally loop both hands around his neck as they hugged but he had stomped off with his trunk before she got the chance. She closed her eyes, hugging her knees, and she sighed again.  
  
"Oh you poor thing."  
  
Her eyes snapped open and she saw Lavender, Parvati, and Ginny all around her. They all climbed onto her bed and looked at her sympathetically.  
  
"Wha...?" She started, confused.  
  
Then they all started in.  
  
"It's okay Hermione."  
  
"You're too good for him."  
  
"And we're here to cheer you up!"  
  
Hermione groaned inwardly.  
  
'Great, a pity party.' She thought.  
  
As soon as she knew it, her hair was being braided and the girls were all talking about some guys that she would look good with.  
  
"You know Dean Thomas isn't a bad guy, of course I broke up with him because he was a little possessive and I kind of liked someone else but he is the perfect guy for you." Ginny blabbed on.  
  
'Oh god get me out of here!' she thought.  
  
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Harry had gotten out of the boy's dormitory as soon as he could. The guys were not helping his mood at all by asking what Parvati or Lavender wore to bed or even better, asking if he got some action with Hermione. Now he was walking through the hallways, to a place where only his feet knew they were going. The Library. It reminded him of Hermione but he went in the same. There were little people inside, a couple of seventh years with a pile of homework, and a few people reading. Harry picked a random book off a shelf and started to read. Someone put their books down on the table and sat down besides him. He frowned when he saw it was Cho Chang.  
  
"Harry, I heard what happened." She said, syrupy sweet. "How are you feeling?"  
  
He didn't think she looked at all sorry that he and Hermione had 'broken up' but he decided she was trying to be nice so he put down 'Transfiguration do's and don'ts' and turned to Cho.  
  
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Hermione was having a hard time carrying the load of books she had in her arms. She had managed to escape her pity party with the excuse that she had tons of work, as well as excluding her from that party she never wanted, she figured that burying herself in work would take her mind off Harry. Entering the library her gaze fell upon the two people she didn't expect to be in the library. Her books fell to the ground noisily, the librarian threw her a glare but Hermione was too busy hiding in behind a shelf to notice.  
  
"Horrible, thanks for asking." Harry told Cho.  
  
She wondered what Cho had asked him. Cho smiled at him and took his hands, Hermione felt anger boil up in the pit of her stomach but she told herself that if Harry wanted to date a cow like that he could.  
  
"It's okay Harry I'm here for you. Besides, you're better off without that Hermione Granger, she gets angry quite easily doesn't she? I'll never know why you chose her over me, but if you want..." she said, getting closer and closer to him until her face was inches away from his. "I'll give you another chance." She finished.  
  
That's it, Hermione had to do something, either stomp out of there or find some sort of weapon... She analysed the sharp edges of her book but shook her head. It wouldn't hurt her that much, however if she threw the whole pile... She stopped as she heard Harry speak.  
  
"Cho, do you realise that the reason we broke up wasn't because of Hermione at all, I wasn't cheating on you with her?" He asked her.  
  
Cho rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to talk.  
  
"And do you realise that while I may have liked you when we were going out, I am now in love with Hermione? So you're here, insulting the girl I love, saying you'll give me another chance and expecting me to just get over her?" He spat, looking furious.  
  
Hermione grabbed the shelf to keep herself standing. She felt a smile rise to her face. He loved her. He loved her. Harry loved her. HARRY LOVED HER!  
  
Cho glowered at him.  
  
"You know I could date anyone here, you're not that cool, Harry. Maybe I'll just go date someone who appreciates me!" She told him, her face becoming red.  
  
"Why didn't you go straight to the mirror before you came and wasted my time then?" He replied.  
  
Cho, without another word, stomped off. Hermione couldn't believe it, she turned around, putting her hands up to her cheeks and trying to comprehend what had just happened. Her legs went to jelly and she put her hand back to the shelf.  
  
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Harry picked up 'Transfiguration do's and don'ts' and walked to the shelf where he found it, meaning to put it back. He frowned, looking at the shelves, trying to remember where it had been. Finally, he found the spot, at about the middle of the shelf. When he looked up he saw that there was a girl with her back turned to him, she had long brown hair that he recognised. He felt his jaw drop.  
  
"Hermione?!" he asked.  
  
She looked in behind and started. He noticed that when she spun around she had caused the shelf to wobble ominously. He tried to pull her away but the books, cascading around them, caused them to fall on the ground. Buried underneath the books and the shelf, they were pressed close together on the ground. He felt a sharp pain in his left eye and groaned.  
  
"Harry, do you really love me?" she asked him.  
  
'Why is she asking me this NOW?' he thought to himself.  
  
"Why aren't you answering?" she asked sadly.  
  
He made himself answer.  
  
"Because there's the pointed edge of a book buried half an inch into my cornea." He told her.  
  
"Oh, are you okay?" she asked, concerned.  
  
He smiled and took the edge out of his eye. He frowned and closed the injured eye.  
  
"I was until I took it out, are you normally that blurry?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, since your glasses aren't on." She told him.  
  
"Oh right, were did they go?" he wondered.  
  
"Let's get out of here and find out." She suggested.  
  
Hermione pushed the books away from them, while Harry lifted the shelf enough for her to get out from under it and help him pull it up. They looked at the mess at their feet. She said a spell that Harry didn't recognise and all the books went back onto the shelf in their correct places.  
  
"Now, I think we've made enough noise for today, how about we get out of here Mister Potter?" She asked him.  
  
"I think that's a great idea, Miss Granger." He agreed.  
  
Once they were a reasonable distance from the library Hermione stopped him.  
  
"Okay, now that you don't have anything pointy in your eye, do you really love me?" she asked him.  
  
He looked at her, he couldn't read her expression, but what good was lying to a question like that?  
  
"Hermione I love you so much..." He said, looking into her brown eyes intensely.  
  
He felt jittery with nerves, he waited for her reaction. He felt his face redden when she started laughing.  
  
"What's so funny?!" he nearly yelled at her.  
  
"So... corny!" she said, still laughing.  
  
Harry glared at her and waited for her to finish. When she was done she smiled at his glare.  
  
"Sorry for laughing Harry, really it was cute, you should have seen me the first time you said it, I was so happy. Because I love you too." She said, getting closer to him.  
  
His glare vanished almost instantly. He grinned and leaned close to her, their faces came together and they shared their first real kiss. When they parted they grinned at each other like wolves.  
  
"You know, sleeping in the same bed as you, isn't so bad." Hermione announced.  
  
"And I love going to Arithmancy with you." Harry told her.  
  
"Bathing with you isn't that horrible..." she admitted, blushing.  
  
"I would love to help you wash your hair any day." He smiled.  
  
"I'm still sick of pretending to be your girlfriend." She told him.  
  
"Will being my real girlfriend suit?" he asked her, pulling her close to him.  
  
"I think it will..."  
  
"Definitely not sick of kissing you." He stated.  
  
"Not sick at all of being kissed by you." She replied.  
  
"I love being around you."  
  
"Who needs to be alone?"  
  
"I loved being stuck with you." Harry told her.  
  
"I loved being stuck with you too." Hermione said.  
  
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I don't think this is the end, I'll probably continue because I really don't want to write a sequel so don't forget about me! Please read and review I repeat NOT the end!!! 


	13. They're getting MARRIED!

Yes, I'm back from the dead, otherwise known as end-of-the-year/ summer vacation. Sorry about the wait, but it was sooooo much easier to write when they weren't together yet, but when I neared the end of this chapter I somehow found some inspiration, hope you like it. Also sorry about the time jump, once again, summer rocks. Thanks for everyone who reviewed last chapter and those who, despite my... ahem... vacation, will review this chapter. Please read and review!

* * *

When they had come back into the common room holding hands everyone looked at them amazed, Ron the most.  
  
"Woah, you're already back together?" he asked them, lifting an eyebrow.  
  
They laughed a little then Harry replied.  
  
"Yeah, already."  
  
"After a whole day." Ron said sarcastically.  
  
He grinned.  
  
"Well I'm glad you're back together, you guys looked miserable without each other." He told them, truthfully.  
  
"Me and the guys were trying to cheer him up, but you should have seen him, he just stormed off!" Seamus explained to Hermione, waving his hands around, as if this were crazy.  
  
"But I guess he went off to make up with you, huh?" he finished, winking at her.  
  
"You call that 'cheering up'? Or maybe I should tell the girls some of the conversation topics?" Harry frowned at him.  
  
Both Seamus and Dean stiffened up at this sentence, with many Griffindor girls looking their way, since Harry had not specified what 'girls'.  
  
"I bet you two want to be left alone, we'll be off to the library, lots of homework and whatnot." Dean said quickly before they hastily ducked out of the room.  
  
Hermione looked up at him questioningly and Harry grinned.  
  
"How about a walk outside? I'll tell you all about it."

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The next few months were blissful, no more faking, still some fighting, but they were still together come time for exams. Hermione, Ron, and Harry were all studying Potions together when a thought hit Ron.  
  
"You two are in love aren't you?" he asked them, as if this was breaking news.  
  
Harry and Hermione both put down their copies of Potions theory. Then the pair in question looked at each other, smiling, finally turning back to Ron with their answer.  
  
"Yes, we are."  
  
"I knew it, ever since you made up you have been acting more like a couple. Before I thought that maybe it was just because you weren't stuck together all the time, but now I know, you're in love!" he exclaimed.  
  
Harry frowned at his yelling.  
  
"You're acting as if this isn't good news."  
  
"Hell no, it isn't, your love will blind you to me, and you won't hang out with me anymore. Then, you'll run away from Hogwart's to get married, forgetting all about me!" Ron raved.  
  
"I think you've been eating too many fizzing whizbees, they scramble your brain." Harry scorned him.  
  
Ron was about to open his mouth in protest but Hermione stopped him.  
  
"Ron, first of all, we won't abandon you, we haven't yet and we've been in love since Christmas." She explained.  
  
"But-" he started again.  
  
"Second of all, I don't think that you believe I would leave school without graduating first."  
  
"And thirdly, we're only sixteen, how in the world are we going to get married?" She finished.  
  
"Oh, so you've thought about it..." Ron pointed out, rather meekly.  
  
"Ron, I think I've made my point." She finished, turning back to Potions theory.  
  
"I don't think you're worried at all. You just want to slack from Potions homework and fail your exam, like last year." Harry speculated.  
  
Ron pointed his nose up indignantly.  
  
"It's not like I failed the whole course, just the exam..."  
  
"I think both of you will fail unless you go back to studying." Hermione said, sounding almost threatening.  
  
Harry smiled and went back to studying. The answers to why some certain potions would work and why some wouldn't were starting to come easier to him. Maybe Hermione's scholarly aptitude was rubbing off on him. As his mind drifted into these thoughts, she scolded him and his eyes went back to the textbook. Or more likely it was because she was forcing him to study. So romantic, a story for the children.  
  
"Ha, this is a story for the kids. 'In my sixth year, thanks to your mother's slave driving, I was able to pass potions with flying colours!'" He laughed.  
  
"So we're having kids now?" Hermione asked.  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Yeah, twelve girls and twelve boys."  
  
She lifted her eyebrows at the count.  
  
"Only twenty four children will do for you then?"  
  
"No more, no less. Of course I'll have a microphone to tell all of them about your slave driving." He added.  
  
Ron looked bewildered.  
  
"Micro... phone? Like small?" He asked, confused.  
  
"It's something to make your voice louder, kind of like a sonorus spell." Harry explained.  
  
"Then I'll have to explain to the children that without my 'slave driving' you would laze around Griffindor tower, trying to convince me to go for a walk with you that will, consequently last two hours." Hermione said.  
  
"Come on, it was only once, and you needed the break. You were all tense... like this." He said, massaging her shoulders.  
  
She sighed as he massaged her shoulders. They were interrupted by someone clearing their throat loudly, Ron, looking quite reproachful.  
  
"Sorry, mate." Harry apologised.  
  
"You guys can do that when I'm gone." Ron told them.  
  
"What? I thought the plan was to study together until supper?" Hermione asked, unsure now.  
  
He looked at his friends, hesitance in his eyes.  
  
"Well... I forgot that I had made plans with someone else..." He said, ears reddening.  
  
Harry read through Ron's hesitance at once.  
  
"Who's the lucky girl?" He asked.  
  
Ron looked at him, surprised he had guessed.  
  
"Well... uh, Harry I hope you're not..." Ron stopped in mid-sentence as someone wrapped their arms around him from behind.  
  
Cho lightly kissed Ron's neck.  
  
"You ready to go?" She asked him, peering over to Harry and Hermione.  
  
She smiled.

* * *

Hmm... well the only thing I can think to say is Read and Review! 


	14. Girl Power!

Yeah... um hopefully I won't take any more 'breaks' like that again. Sorry once more, and thank you everyone who reviewed last chapter. Sorry this chapter is so short, I blame my being sleep deprived from reading Diana Gabaldon books deep into the night, which is not my fault, they are just so good. I have seemed to get a response from everyone when I added that whole Cho thing, so let's just go with that. As for the reader who asked how Cho could kiss Ron's neck when he's a giant, she goes on her toes... in platform shoes, but anyway thanks for pointing out the plot hole '. Please read and review!

Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing. In mute shock, she watched as Ron smiled at Cho and tore himself from her grasp. Hermione let her held breath out slowly in relief. Maybe he was only being polite? He glanced shyly at Harry and her before winding an arm around Cho's waist, ears as red as ever.

"Well, we have to go. I'll see you guys later."

With that the pair left, the silence in their wake disturbed only by the sound of Cho's Spice Girls platform shoes hitting the ground. Girl power. She didn't seem quite used to wearing them yet, Hermione noticed, as she hobbled off.

"What do you think?"

"Tacky, aren't they?" Harry commented, his nose scrunched up.

"Be serious, Harry." Hermione told him.

"Hmmm... well, I think that there's absolutely nothing we can do."

She looked at him incredulously.

"Come on, you saw how she looked at us, I have a feeling she meant what she said in the library. To find someone who would appreciate her, and if at the same time this person could be your best friend, even better. That way she can try that whole jealousy bit.

"Plus we could do something, we never did tell him about Cho the day we got together."

Harry closed his book and leaned back in his chair.

"Did you see his face?"

She sighed and nodded.

"Happy wasn't it? Now insert 'Hey Ron, I don't think you should go out with Cho because she's obviously only trying to make me jealous and I think she's a psycho bitch'. That'll go well." He pointed out, rather accurately.

"Maybe she's not trying to make you jealous, and if she is, she'll stop as soon as she realises that you're not taking the bait, right?" She said, brushing a few stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"I just hope for Ron's sake that she actually likes him."

Hesitantly, they went back to studying. As tempted they were to keep talking about Ron and Cho, exams were only two weeks away.

Ron showed up in the boy's dorm that night from his date looking happy and amicable. Harry was sitting on his bed, re-reading his Arithmancy book when Ron came over and sat on his own bed. Harry kept his eyes on the book, though now no longer reading.

"Harry?"

He raised his head with a smile.

"Yeah?"

"Listen I'm sorry about ditching you guys today... and for not telling you about Cho." Ron apologised, his face reddening.

"No, it's alright, man. I'm just slightly confused... why," Harry paused, the sentence 'why did this happen' not seeming appropriate.

"Why Cho? I thought you didn't like her last year."

Ron mulled over his answer.

"Things change, she only really started talking to me around February, and then I got to know her. Well... we've only been going out a couple of weeks, but I really like her, Harry."

He had sort of a pleading look in his eyes, and at first Harry couldn't figure out why, so he didn't say anything. Then he realised that Ron wanted his approval for his dating Cho, a little belatedly, but nonetheless nice.

"That's awesome, Ron. You guys looked great together."

Ron smiled and picked up one of Harry's stray Arithmancy books laying around.

"I've always wanted to know what you learned in this, without listening to Hermione's long winded descriptions, honestly, she makes it sound so hard." He said, flipping through the book.

Harry watched as Ron's face distorted in confusion while reading the book. He lowered the book slightly.

"I'm just going to put this down."

He put the book down on Harry's bed disdainfully and picked up a book about quidditch instead.

Sorry if I made Harry and Hermione sound like bitches in this chapter, it's totally unintentional. Please read and review.


	15. Like a girl's!

Yo. Short chapter (again) sorry, and sorry in advance for all Ron fans. Thanks everyone who reviewed last chapter, lol lots of Cho bashing. Please read and review.

To: HarryNDracosDarlin, I was reading Voyager, it was so long! It left me totally drained and sleep deprived (like my driving book is doing to me now). But I hear Fiery Cross is even longer, so it might take me awhile before I read Drums of autumn.

* * *

After Harry and Ron's brief encounter in the dorms, Harry seldom saw Ron without Cho. He blew off all of the study sessions that Harry and Hermione had set up with excuses such as 'I'm doing something with Cho' or 'I'm studying with Cho'. However Harry wondered how much studying they actually did in these 'study sessions' when, the day before the OWL's, Ron approached him, looking panic stricken.

"Harry, mate, you've got to lend me your Defence Against the Dark Arts exam notes." He said, panting.

"Yeah, sure, but what's the emergency?" Harry asked, handing him a few parchments worth of notes.

"Uh, you know comparing notes, doing some extra studying before the exams, the usual" Ron answered, starting to catch his breath.

Harry nodded and a silent moment passed between them, it was kind of awkward since this was the only time in weeks that they had really talked. Ron shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking uncomfortable.

"So, how are you.. AAAAH!!" He yelled aloud when someone, from behind, grabbed his waist.

"Ron, your waist is TINY, just like a girl's!" said Cho, suddenly appearing besides him.

"Hey, you." He said smiling.

He pulled her close and planted a kiss on her lips. Harry tried not to look, less he go blind. Cho pulled away and looked at him.

"Oh, hello Harry." She said, smiling broadly.

"Ron, honey, I thought we were going to study by the lake today, it would be best to leave now."

Harry didn't miss the fact that she now called him 'honey', that she had absolutely no books or the commanding tone in which she had said that sentence.

"Oh, yeah, of course. I'll see you later, Harry!" Ron called out as Cho started to drag him off somewhere.

Harry watched them retreat for awhile, then slowly made his way back to Griffindor common room.

* * *

"Why would he be so frazzled if he was just doing some extra reviewing?" Hermione wondered, settling into Harry's arms.

"That's what I want to know, we don't know how much he has actually studied, since he's always been with Cho." He said, frowning.

They were sitting on the carpet near the hearth, the common room was empty with most students going to sleep early for exams the next day, and the rest cramming late into the night in the library. Ron had not yet returned to the tower. Harry had just explained the situation with Ron and Cho to Hermione. A silence went through them.

"Do.. do you think it's our fault?" Hermione suggested meekly.

Harry held her tighter.

"I don't know, maybe it's the combination of our relationship making him feel left out and.. Cho." He said.

"Why didn't we see this before, there could have been time to study.. but now" She sighed.

"But now we should hope he's been studying with Cho all this time.. instead of other things. But right now we should think about ourselves."

Hermione turned her head around to look at him, puzzled. He let go of her and stood up, then he extended his hand to her, helping her up.

"After all Ron's not the only one taking the OWLs tomorrow." He said, standing quite close to her.

Hermione found it a bit distracting, to be so close to him, yet not touching but she nodded all the same.

"We'd better get to sleep."

She turned to go to the girl's dorm but Harry stopped her.

"You go so quickly, I'm hurt, Hermione." He said, mockingly clutching his heart.

She turned around with a grin. Lacing her arms around his neck, she kissed him tenderly. Then, when they parted, they made their way back to their respective dormitories, admittedly, with one last stolen look.

* * *

Thanks for reading, now review!


	16. End of the year

Thanks everyone who reviewed last chapter, and sorry it took me so long (again) to write this one. I could give excuses such as eleventh grade is killing me, I'm busy writing a scholarship paper, I'm learning how to drive standard, I'm trying to go to the gym every second day, I'm still looking for a job, and I don't think I'm getting high enough marks to get into the university I want, but I know you all don't want to hear that. I'm glad people seem to be very upset about the Ron/Cho thing, it means my job as an author is going well.

Oh also someone pointed out that I was being stupid, I was confused for a second and said they were taking their OWLs but they're in seventh year… thanks whoever told me that.

To sinta1: what? I'm not sure if this is me being retarded, but what are you talking about?

Ron was a wreck. Of course Harry must have not been looking his best, but not to this extent. He now knew for sure, Ron had been doing little to no studying at all, and now he was realising his mistake. On the walk to the examination room he kept quiet, not looking at Harry, who was starting to feel increasingly guilty.

"So I guess you weren't actually studying with Cho, were you?"

Ron snapped out of his reverie and looked at Harry sullenly.

"No, not at all." He said.

Harry kept silent, waiting for Ron to add anything.

"It wasn't her fault though, I could have said no anytime… but I didn't, and now I'm going to fail my exams." He said, quietly.

Harry nodded.

"I… I think I love her." Ron admitted.

A few remarks came to Harry's mind, among them "You love what part of her?" and "So, have you talked to each other yet, or just snogged?" but those didn't seem like comments a best friend would make so he settled for a simple one.

"Really?" He managed to say.

"Yeah, but I was being stupid, wasn't I?" He laughed bitterly.

"Well… here we are." Harry said, once they had reached the throng of students pilling into the great hall.

"You… you might not fail…" he tried, hoping to lift Ron's spirits a little.

"Harry, who are you kidding?" Ron replied, walking sullenly into the crowd.

Despite Harry's feeling of despair over Ron, the exams went quite well for him, being Hermione's boyfriend did have its gruelling study periods but apparently, it paid off well in the end. He silently thanked her in his mind as he scribbled down answers. Hermione was thinking among the same lines… you know, thanking herself.

'Hah, this is too easy, I could have written a harder test.' She thought, triumphantly.

She then set forth to crush any competition to be top of the class.

Harry and Hermione met up quickly after the test, Harry leaving only a few minutes after Hermione. With a mischievous grin he kissed her cheek and placed his arm around her waist.

"I take it you did well." She said.

"Thanks to my tutor, seductively distracting though she may be."

She smiled to herself at his comments.

"Well I found it quite more enjoyable studying with my boyfriend than alone, if a bit… distracting as you said." She muttered, looking up at him through her lashes, her hand lingering on his arm.

Harry, mesmerised, closed his eyes and lent his face downwards.

"But," Hermione started. "We still have exams tomorrow so let's get studying!" she exclaimed, her eyes full of life.

He sometimes wondered where she got this vigour from, he, himself would never choose studying over kissing. As if reading his mind, Hermione replied.

"Oh come off it, Harry, you know we still have some exams, but after that I won't be cramming books down your throat. We'll have time for… other things." She said, smirking at the pause.

"You HAD to say it like that, didn't you?" Harry moaned.

"Naturally."

Finally… after more studying and agonising, the exams were done.

"I failed. Mom's going to kill me." Ron said, grimly.

Harry and Hermione didn't know what to say, as the carriage carried them down to the Hogsmead station.

"Oh well, goes to show snogging doesn't make you smarter." He laughed.

Harry didn't know whether he should laugh but he did anyway, Hermione gave a quick smile then started gazing out of the window, distractedly. When they got on the train Ron and Hermione went with the other prefects, while Harry sat with Seamus and Dean. Harry hadn't seen Hermione for practically the whole ride when she appeared in their car. Seamus and Dean gave him knowing looks and vacated their seats. Harry slid the door closed with a grin.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." She said, grinning back.

A few minutes later, after they had properly snogged, they lent back in their seats as they noticed that they were almost there.

"What do you think the chances are that my parents let you stay at my house for the summer?" She asked.

"After a year like that? Probably less than two percent." He replied.

"No point wondering about the Dursleys, that would be negative two hundred and thirty percent chance you get to stay over."

They felt the train stop.

"So…" Harry started.

"Till we next meet." She smiled.

Their lips met in a blissful kiss, or it would be blissful if there weren't six first years staring into the glass at them. Frustrated, Harry stood up and turned to them with a look in his eyes that said he wasn't there to offer them tea and biscuits. Needless to say they ran off. Harry sighed, and Hermione led him out of the train, carrying their bags behind them. Upon reaching the outside, they saw Ron who was looking around for someone.

"Ron!" Hermione called and he noticed them.

They walked over to him and Harry clasped his hand onto Ron's shoulder.

"Well… I guess this is it, be sure to send me some letters." Harry said, smiling.

Ron, for what must have been the first time in a month, smiled back.

"Yeah, if I'm not under house arrest, maybe we can meet up sometime. See you, mate." He said.

"You too, Hermione. Don't you two be running off to get married without telling me, alright?" He joked.

"Haven't we been through this before?" Hermione asked.

Cho appeared out of nowhere.

"Ron, I have to go soon, won't you say goodbye to me?" She asked, no… more like demanded.

"One minute, Cho."

He turned back to Harry and Hermione.

"Anyway, see you guys, send me some owls!" He said.

He then left with Cho. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and sighed.

"We're horrible friends, aren't we?" She asked.

He simply nodded solemnly until he heard someone yell his name. They looked to the side and there stood the Dursleys, looking cross.

"Well… I guess I'd better be…" He stopped in mid-sentence when Hermione planted a bold, movie worthy kiss on him. He couldn't see the Dursleys' faces but he could imagine how slack-jawed they must have been. He didn't blame them, half of the crowd were staring openly. Harry reddened considerably, this wasn't just a few first years, it was his classmates and their relatives.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed.

She looked at him innocently.

"What? You weren't going to give me a goodbye kiss if I didn't take you by surprise." She reasoned.

Most of the people stopped staring, Harry's face cooled down a bit.

"But in front of all these people…"

"You didn't seem to care when we were fake dating, it's not like anyone cares." She said in a casual sort of way.

She noticed something in the crowd and blanched considerably.

"Damn, my parents saw that!" she now reddened.

"Serves you right, taking advantage of me…" Harry said.

"… And I would have given you a goodbye kiss, like this."

He kissed her, not quite as forcefully as she had done, quite tenderly, actually.

"I fully expect five love letters by the time I reach home, Mr Potter." She announced.

"I'll work on it."

He bid her farewell and strode to the Dursleys, who were looking more affronted by the minute, except for Dudley, who was looking at him with a sort of awed respect in his eyes, Harry didn't like it. Uncle Vernon frowned at him.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"My girlfriend, Hermione." Harry stated.

"Well just because you have a girlfriend is no reason to go and do… that… wildly. In public even!" he grew purple with anger as he spoke.

"Disgraceful!" Aunt Petunia exclaimed.

As they walked to the car, Dudley in a hushed voice asked him how far they'd gotten, Harry ignored him. It was the start of the summer and he was already feeling more despondent than usual. To take his mind off Dudley's blathering he thought of the letter he would send to Hermione soon and of the seemingly far away seventh year.

Thanks for reading, please review!


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